Borscht is a soup of Ukrainian origin that is common in Eastern and Central Europe, especially in Ashkenazi Jewish, Belarusian, Lithuanian, Moldovan/Romanian, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian cuisine. In most of traditional recipes, it is made with beetroot as the main ingredient. In some regions, tomato is used as the main ingredient, while beetroot may act as a secondary ingredient. Other varieties that do not use beetroot also exist, such as green borscht and white borscht.

The English word borscht, also spelled borsch, borsht, or bortsch, comes from Yiddish באָרשט‎ (borsht), which derives from Ukrainian or Russian борщ (borshch). The latter, together with cognates in other Slavic languages, comes from Proto-Slavic *bŭrščǐ 'hogweed', and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bhr̥sti- < *bhares-/bhores- 'point, stubble'. Common hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) was the soup's principal ingredient before it was replaced with other vegetables, notably beetroot. The beetroot borscht was invented in what is now Ukraine and first brought to North America by Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe.
The Jewish Encyclopedia from the beginning of the 20th century pointed out that borshtch refers to a number of soups, the most popular of which is the kraut (cabbage) borshtsh, and that borshtsh can also be made with beetroot.